Tantalize
by Lady Gunblade
Summary: BrotherxYuna - While sulking at the bar, Brother gets an unexpected surprise, and finds the perfect way for Yuna to apologize to him. -oneshot-


_Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I posted something, hasn't it? And now that I do, it's not even slash! I'm sorry for everyone who was expecting that. Hell, I even surprised myself by writing this! I'm replaying X-2, so that's probably why. 'Sides, I like this pairing, and it needs more love._

_Anyway, on with the oneshot. Enjoy!_

_Warnings: um... un-beta'd? There's not that much going on.  
Disclaimer: Do want. Do not own. K?_

* * *

However repulsive the contents of his glass looked, Brother downed it all at once. Barkeep made sure he kept a steady supply going, lest Brother's groaning should start again. He'd been listening to mostly incoherent Al Bhed mumbling and sentences like 'My heart… it's aching!' for several hours. If male humans were capable, Barkeep was sure that this would be what Miss Rikku had when she threatened him with 'your days will end if you don't give me a candy bar _right now!_', and which Miss Yuna had (after dragging Miss Rikku away from him at a safe distance) graciously elaborated was really called 'PMS' (Barkeep didn't know what that meant, but it sounded a lot more scientific and convincing).

Ah. Miss Yuna.

The reason this whole ordeal had started.

"She does not love me!" came Brother's sudden slurred cry. Barkeep jumped and quickly adjusted his grip on the slippery dishes.

"Ooh… You musht not shay those thingsh?" he tried to console.

Brother merely made a dismissive gesture and pushed the empty glass across the counter.

"One more." he slurred.

Sighing, Barkeep accepted the glass and trotted to the back, shaking his head and murmuring something along the lines of "those youngshtersh these daysh..."

Unbeknownst to him, the elevator door slid open to reveal none other than Brother's object of affection.

----

Oh… the countertop was deliciously cool again his heated, foggy head. The cold contrasted starkly with the warmth in both his gullet, from the alcohol, and his head, filled with thoughts and images of Yuna. Her smile, her multi-colored eyes, the gestures she made when she was excited or anxious, and – if he allowed Barkeep's scotch to get to him a little too much – the curve of her hips, her long slender legs and her modest, perfect bosom.

In his dreams, he had almost been able to feel the warmth of her skin, smell the floral fragrance of her hair and taste the sweetness of her lips.

He could even imagine her now, stepping out of the lift, tired, stretching and yawning, and still beautiful and smiling. Ah, there were her footsteps – she would approach him slightly worried when she would see him stretched over the counter, and would gently lay her soft, feminine hand on his arm and –

"Brother?"

With a shriek he hadn't known possible for his testosterone-induced body, Brother flailed as if burned, toppling of the barstool and landing on the hardwood floor with a loud _oomph_. The Chocobo in the corner kweh'd loudly.

There, one hand to her mouth and the other to her chest, stood Yuna. Her eyes were equally wide as his own, before he rubbed them to see if he wasn't dreaming. Then again, if he was, the bruise that was surely making its way to the surface of his gluteus maximus wouldn't be quite so painful. With a wince, he started to rub the sore spot.

"Oh, Brother, are you alright? I didn't mean to scare you!" Yuna exclaimed, snapping out of her initial shock and rushing to his side.

"It, ah – It is nothing! You merely, eh, startled me! That is all!" _out of my fantasies of you_, Brother mentally added.

"You didn't hurt yourself, did you? I'm so sorry, please, let me help you up." Yuna fussed. She offered him her hand.

For a while, Brother merely stared at it. Yuna, perfect Yuna, was willing to take his hand in her own? Granted, not to walk along Besaid's beach or to prance off into the Mi'ihen sunset, but still! It was _Yuna's_ hand, soft and wonderful, with straight, shiny nails and just a tiny birthmark near the thumb… Her silvery bracelet brought out the pink hue of her skin perfectly.

Realizing he was staring when Yuna cocked her pretty head in curiosity, he slowly took it. His own rugged hand almost ate hers up, but the warmth Brother felt at the contact rushed righty to his head and his heart.

A disc in his back snapping and the soft background music of a ruffling Chocobo, a rummaging Barkeep and Celsius' purring engine were the only things disturbing the otherwise silent Cabin. Speechless and breathless, Brother allowed himself to be pulled up by Yuna's surprisingly (though it shouldn't have been) strong arm.

Her soft, apologetic giggle was soothing music to him. But the fact that she held his hand even when he stood was a wonderful surprise to him.

"Really sorry." she said, unusually subdued.

"It is alright. It was a… pleasant startle." he answered, also uncharacteristically quiet.

"Something I can do to make it up to you?"

At first he had thought it was a dream after all, or that Barkeep had thought up a seriously unusual concoction that caused a state of delirium. Surely Yuna would only ask something like that in his fantasies?

But she was looking up at him expectantly, a smile and a slight flush apparent on her face.

Brother thought hard for a few moments. Everything he came up with wasn't innocent enough; a kiss, a date, a night with her…

Then he knew. It was so simple and obvious, and not enough to raise any suspicion on Yuna's (or the other nosy Gullwings') behalf.

"Dance… for me."

She had been surprised, and Brother feared he might have pushed his luck after all. He was about to laugh, cover it up with a joke, release her hand and walk away, when suddenly the 'o' of Yuna's mouth closed and turned upwards in a perfect pink crescent.

"Alright."

Brother strongly resisted the urge to do his trademark "Party! Ahahaha! Party!". Not only would it have thrown Yuna off, it would have sent the other Gullwings running in the blink of an eye.

Gently, Yuna squeezed his hand and started to lead him towards the lift. His initial thought was something like 'Hey, what about my dance?'.

But Yuna's soft "Come on." was enough persuasion, and once again he was a victim to the Forces of Yuna.

Barkeep's words of "I fetched the shcotch for nothuthing?" were only heard by the by now dazing Chocobo.

---

The deck's door sliding open revealed the Celsius' red paintjob, darkened by the velvet cover of the night's sky. Being so high up in the air made the thousands of twinkling dots that were stars seem so much closer. There were no birds, no wind and no moon. Aside from the ship's gentle purring and the rushing of it gliding through the air, there were o sounds, making time seem to have stopped.

Yuna walked ahead of him and his hand immediately grew cold at the loss of contact with hers. Obediently, he sat down when she softly ordered him to, and watched as the light of her Spherechange illuminated the deck, his own skin, the gull emblem and most importantly, Yuna herself.

And then she stood there, right in front of him, in a mixture of blue and white, a bashful posture taking a hold of her.

"Any requests?" she asked, equally bashful.

"_Yhodrehk_…" he whispered, his gaze fixed on Yuna's. She either had mastered the Al Bhed language or took it as a 'no', for she smiled and took on a starting position.

From the moment Yuna made her first movement, Brother couldn't care less if he looked like a drooling idiot staring at her.

Her footwork softly tapped a rhythm while her legs and hips moved in slow circles, lines and curves. Her arms made gracious, slow movements to balance her and add effect. She went slowly, her long braid swaying and trailing behind, her hair gently flowing and her jewelry following the movements of her body, jingling every now and then.

A glimpse at her face showed her eyes closed, a serene look on her. When she opened her eyes, they were twinkling, and when they locked with Brother's she would flash him a smile, which he found he couldn't return, entranced and infatuated idiot that he was. She didn't mind, though, and continued her dance every time.

Brother could do little more than watch her, captivated by the way she moved and the way she seemed so caught up in her own ritual. That, and the way her moves seemed to spread her floral scent through the air towards him, made it very hard for Brother not to stand up, take her arms and kiss her.

But he couldn't, he knew he couldn't, and seeing as this was the most he would ever get from her, he watched intently, saving everything he saw, heard and sensed from her in his memory before she would turn her back on him again to look only at the future.

Besides, as he had told Barkeep, he _liked_ Yuna's back. Just as he liked her front and her sides, her looks, her quirks and her voice. Just as he liked her eyes, her scent and her seemingly endless energy, enthusiasm and determination.

And as she finished and came to sit at his side, saying nothing and slumping against him in exhaustion, Brother decided that he also loved the feel of her against him, the way she was in her sleep, with her soft breathing and occasional mumbled.

But most of all, Brother decided as he carried her sleeping form back to the Cabin and laid her on the bed, her weight and warmth seeping through every pore, mesmerizing him more and more, he loved how she grasped his hand, even in slumber.

* * *

_Thank you for reading! Reviews very much appreciated, as is critique. Flames supply Fantasia Fried Chocobos' ovens.  
_Yhodrehk_ means 'anything'_.


End file.
